If you are joining us online or at Eastwood Baptist Church for the first time we are in a series on the Fruit of the Spiritfrom Galatians 5:22-23. There are nine fruits mentioned in this passage. Today we are going to look at the fruit of KINDNESS.

This fruit, as well as all the fruits, are not achieved by our work or effort. They are the character of Jesus produced through you and me as we walk in the Spirit. You trust God to live His life in you and you step out in faith. We listen and obey. The Holy Spirit produces the fruit. It is a cluster, so all nine fruits are evidenced in our life.

Laws or personal rules you might follow cannot produce this fruit. People who love sports don’t need a law to make them watch sports on TV. If you love fishing you don’t have to have a command to get up early to fish. If you love to shop you don’t need external motivation to push you to the mall!

You can’t learn to walk in the Spirit from a book or a sermon. You learn by asking God to fill you with His Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), and you step out in faith (2 Corinthians 5:7). We trust God to do what He has commanded and promised to do through us.

Let’s dig deep into this fruit called kindness. Almost every translation uses the word kindness in Galatians 5:22-23. If you are reading the King James Version you will see gentleness. The underlying word is sometimes translated goodness, too. This kindness is the way God is toward us.

This kindness is supernatural. The Bible says that God is love (1 John 4:8); that’s His nature. He is kind too. His kindness is shown toward us in sending Jesus Christ to be the Savior. Human kindness does not compare. We have all tried to be kind when we didn’t feel like it. It doesn’t work very well.

How do we know if we are experiencing and showing the kindness of the Holy Spirit? What are some indications that we are merely trying to be kind in our own strength? Are we not supposed to try to be kind? Do we just wait for some overwhelming spiritual kindness to begin to flow through us?

Let’s start by looking at why Paul wrote this book to the Galatians:

The Galatians had fallen away from the Gospel of GRACE! They were trying to obey Jewish laws. The Galatians were trying to be justified by the Mosaic Law. Their focus was turned inward. They thought that they could please God by what they did instead of what Jesus did for them. They began to depend upon their own effort. The result was legalism and license. They started in grace but were trying to grow by law keeping.

It is impossible to walk in the Spirit and live by law keeping at the same time. Remember the Spirit of God will always take to higher than trying to follow your own rules. The Pharisees were masters at keeping the Law but failed miserably in loving God and others. They developed their own self-righteousness. It was external and superficial, and did not control their passions. Jesus constantly condemned their religiosity.

When we try to live by our own effort or goodness we usually become very judgmental. We are blinded by our own faults and see them clearly in others. We become unkind like the Pharisees. Rules become more important than people.

Plank Eye Disease

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Matthew 7:1-4

This is why Paul begins Galatians 6 with a warning to be gentle and careful when you try to correct others (Galatians 6:1). If you’ve ever got something in your eye and had to go to the Doctor to have it removed, you know what the Bible is saying. We don’t want someone carelessly poking around in our eye to try to remove the object. We need a gentle, experienced touch. We need kindness!

Let’s go back to those questions I asked at the beginning of this message:

How do we know if we are experiencing and showing the kindness of the Holy Spirit? What are some indications that we are merely trying to be kind in our own strength? Are we not supposed to try to be kind? Do we just wait for some overwhelming spiritual kindness to begin to flow through us?

Here are some indicators that you are walking in the Spirit and are being filled by the Spirit:

1. There is freedom and not bondage. Galatians 5:1, 13
2. You are trusting Christ and His righteousness not your own.
Galatians 3:3; 5:4
3. You are not gratifying the desires of the flesh. Galatians 5:16-21
4. You are loving your neighbor. Galatians 5:14

As we enter into a time of ministry and invitation take a moment to pray and ask God to fill you with His Spirit. Ask Him to reveal what you need to do in response to this Word today. This message is for me and you. If you are thinking about someone else you may have missed the point completely.

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